Why do producers use flanged bottles?

We were having a 96 Mondavi Napa Merlot for Taco Tuesday, and since I have so few flanged bottles, I forgot I couldn’t use the counter-top opener with it. This 96 Reserve looks almost the same in shape.

Not a big deal to use the corkscrew, but why do producers use that flange shape? It seems like I don’t see that many anymore.

The wine btw is still doing quite well. Similar to many 95 right bank BDX.

Same reason they use heavy, or larger, or oddly shaped bottles - to distinguish themselves, or that particular bottling, in some way. There is one particularly producer who uses the bottle shape as a distinguishing feature for every single bottling, it’s part of their cache.

6/12/1996 article discussing Mondavi’s flanged bottles

Thanks for that article. The flange did not help stop drips.

Funny, I opened a 1995 Mondavi Reserve last weekend and was reminded of the drip-stop reason promoted at the time. Didn’t work then, doesn’t work now.

“Whinging about flanging.”

Interesting article. Seems like Alan was right on the money. I dislike those bottles. The wine should be OK though. Had a 99 a while ago and it was quite good. (BTW - cachet.)

Other wineries used these flanged bottles for a time too. I have some bottles from Sterling from the mid-90s that were the same as the ones Mondavi used.

I agree about the 96 Mondavi Merlot, by the way. It provided a real positive surprise when opened about a year ago. The '94 is also quite nice. Some of the mid-90 Zinfandels from Mondavi are also developing beautifully. Who’d have thunk it?

Their saying they were doing it to stop drips is a BS excuse for the real reason that it was for appearances/marketing. If they really were doing it just to stop drips, they would have tested the bottle design/shape first and found it didn’t work before they went through the expense of implementing the change in their bottling line.

So they are either lying, or they are a poorly run company. You guess what the real story is…

J Morurat from the Loire Valley has flanged bottles which I believe are based on bottles from Roman ruins found in the area http://www.lebonvin.co.uk/index.php/j-mourat/fiefs-vendeens-rouge-j-mourat-collection-1.html I know I read this somewhere but now I can not find where I read it. Mourat’s website is in French only and I can’t find anything on other websites about this factoid which I seem to remember. To me the bottles are very aesthetically pleasing and are a selling point but the wine is very good too.